Refuse collecting vehicle

ABSTRACT

This invention relates to a rear end loader type of refuse collecting vehicle. There is no tailgate and the loading hopper, rather than being in the tailgate, is in the rear of the vehicle body. A packing blade moves refuse from the hopper into the forward portion of the body and in one embodiment may be reversed to sweep refuse from the hopper to a point exterior of the vehicle. A longitudinally movable ejector panel is mounted transversely of the body. During the discharging of refuse from the open rear end of the body the packer blade is in an elevated position and the refuse is discharged by the ejector panel between the elevated packer blade and the hopper. In some embodiments an auxiliary floor is provided in the hopper.

United States Patent [191 Herpich et al.

1 1 Nov. 13, 1973 REFUSE COLLECTING VEHICLE [75] Inventors: William A. Herpich; Glenn S. Park,

both of Gallon, Ohio; George W. Palmer, Durant, Okla.

[73] Assignee: Peabody Galion Corp., Galion, Ohio [22] Filed: Jan. 28, 1972 [21] Appl. No.: 221,617

Related US. Application Data [63] Continuation-impart of Ser. No. 28,566, April 15,

1970, Pat. No. 3,661,281.

[52] US. Cl. 214/833, 214/82 [51] Int. Cl B65! 3/00 [58] Field of Search 214/833, 503, 82

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,263,846 8/1966 Balbi 2l4/83.3 x 2,263,199 ll/l94l Wachter et al7 214/833 6/1969 Nickelm, 214/833 X 2,103,128 12/1937 Walter ..2l4/83.3

Primary Examiner-Albert J. Makay Attorney-Carl F. Schaffer et a1.

[57] ABSTRACT This invention relates to a rear end loader type of refuse collecting vehicle. There is no tailgate and the loading hopper, rather than being in the tailgate, is in the rear of the vehicle body. A packing blade moves refuse from the hopper into the forward portion of the body and in one embodiment may be reversed to sweep refuse from the hopper to a point exterior of the vehicle. A longitudinally movable ejector panel is mounted transversely of the body. During the disa charging of refuse from the open rear end of the body the packer bladeis in an elevated position and the refuse is discharged by the ejector panel between the elevated packer blade and the hopper. in. some embodiments an auxiliary floor is provided in the hopper.

3 Claims, 11 Drawing Figures PATENTED-HBV 13 I915 SHEET 2 CF 8 Sir/1.675

PAIENIEDHM 13 1915 SHEET H CF 8 Pmmmunv 13 ms SHEET 6 BF 8 PAIENTEBuuv 13 I915 SHEET 8 BF 8 ndn.

REFUSE COLLECTING VEHICLE This application is a continuation-in-part of our copending application Ser. No. 28,566 filed Apr. 15, 1970 U.S. Pat. No. 3,661,281.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a refuse collecting vechile of the type customarily employed on city streets for the collection of trash, garbage and other refuse. More particularly, this invention relates to an improved rear end loader type of refuse collecting vehicle.

Many prior art rear end loaders, for example, the vehicle shown in Palmer, et a1. U.S. Pat. No. 3,402,837 include an elongated body having an ejector panel which was moved rearwardly to discharge refuse from the body of the vehicle. However, most of the prior art rear end loader vehicles included a tailgate which defined a lower hopper portion. The tailgate was moved to an elevated position before the ejector panel was activated to discharge refuse from the rear of the body. Often, prior art vehicles also included packing blade mechanism in the tailgate to move the refuse from the tailgate hopper into the vehicle body.

It has been found that it is difficult to maintain the proper seals on prior art tailgate type rear end loaders. When the seals are not maintained, waste material is often discharged upon city streets. In addition, many of the prior art vehicles included massive tailgate'structures which when elevated created a safety hazard to the vehicle operator. It was not uncornmon for an operator to walk beneath such an elevated tailgate when, for example, there was a malfunction during the discharging operation.

SUMMARY THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a rear end loader type of refuse collecting vehicle in which the tailgate structure normally present in a rear end loader type of vehicle is eliminated. A refuse collecting vehicle according to the present invention includes an elongated body having opposed sidewalls, a body floor, and a hopper defined in the body flooradjacent the rear end of the body. Ejector means are provided for discharging refuse through the open rear end of the body. Packing means are provided for moving refuse from the hopper forwardly into the elongated body. The packing means includes a packing blade which is movable between an upper discharge position and a lower packing position. The ejector means is effective to discharge refuse between the elevated packing blade and the hopper. The hopper may be provided with an auxiliary floor which is moved to an elevated or upper position during the discharge of refuse from the open rear end of the body. Alternatively, the hopper may be'provided with a downwardly movable rear 'wall to facilitate discharge of refuse through the hopper.

It is the principal object of the instant invention to provide an improved rear end loader type of refuse collecting vehicle.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a refuse collecting vehicle, according to the present invention, with parts broken away to show portions of the ejection means and showing the packer blade in various positions by the use of dashed lines;

rear end of the vehicle;

FIG. 5 is a partially diagrammatic, vertical sectional view showing another embodiment of the present invention, including an auxiliary floor positioned within the hopper;

FIG. 6 is a rear view of the vehicle shown in FIG. 1 with the packing mechanism in a transportation position;

FIG. 7 is a view similar to FIG. 6 showing a rear view of the FIG. 5 embodiment;

FIG. 8 is a view similar to FIG. 3, but showing the position of the packing means and the ejector panel at the beginning of the compacting step;

FIG. 9 is a view similar to FIG. 8 but showing the position of the packing means and ejector panel at the completion of the compacting step;

FIG. 10 is a partially diagrammatic, vertical sectional view of another embodiment and showing in particular a two-piece hopper element, with the hopper in its closed, refuse receiving position; and

FIG. 11 is a partially diagrammatic, vertical sectional view similar to FIG. 10 but showing the two-piece hopper in its open, refuse discharging position.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A refuse collecting vehicle, according to the present invention, is generally indicated in FIG. 1 by the reference number 20. The vehicle 20 includes a conventional truck chassis 21 which mounts a drivers cab 22 and an elongated body 23. The body 23 includes a front wall 24, opposed sidewalls 25 and 26, a floor 27, a partial roof 28, and an open rear end 29.

The floor 27 has a generally flat front portion 31. The refuse collecting vehicle 20 does not have a tailgate which includes a loading hopper. Rather, a loading hopper 32 is defined in the rear of the elongated body 23. Referring to FIG. 2, the loading hopper 32, in the present embodiment, includes inclined bottom sections 33 and 34. A loading step 35 is located adjacent the downwardly inclined rear bottom section 33 and the upwardly inclined forward bottom section 34 abuts the main floor 27 of the body 23. The loading hopper 32 is an integral part of the elongated body 23.

As shown in FIG. 1, the opposed sidewalls 25 and 26 extend downwardly in the area of the loading hopper 32 and also serve as sidewalls for the loading hopper While it is possible to discharge refuse through open rear end 29 by tilting the entire body 23, preferably ejector means, generally indicated by the reference versely across the body 23 from side to side and top to bottom. The ejector panel 41 is mounted in the body 23 for movement from one end to the other. The bottom of the ejector panel 41 normally moves over horizontal wooden rails (not shown) which are mounted on the floor 2'7. The ejector panel 41 is moved back and forth in the body 23 by a telescoping hydraulic cylinder set 42 which is operatively connected between the front wall 24 of the body 23 and the ejector panel 41.

The refuse collecting vehicle also includes pack-v ing means, generally indicated by the reference number 45, for moving refuse from the hopper 32 into the front portion of the body 23. In the present embodiment, the packing means 45 includes a transversely extending packing blade 46 which is mounted for movement along the longitudinal centerline of a pair of opposed guide channels 47. Each of the guide channels 47 is pivotally mounted adjacent the roof 28 and a respective sidewall -26 by a mounting assembly 48. In the present embodiment, the packing means includes a first pair of cylinders 49 and a second pair of cylinders 50. Each of the cylinders 49 is operatively connected between the mounting assembly 48 and the transversely extending packing blade 46. The first pair of cylinders 49 is effective to move the packing blade 46 along the longitudinal centerline of the channels 47. The second pair of cylinders 50 is operatively connected between the distal ends of the guide channels 47 and a lower mounting assembly 51 located below the mounting assembly 48 and slightly above the floor 27. A cover plate 52 is welded or otherwise connected to the upper surfaces of the channels 47 and serves as an extension of the partial roof 28 when the packing means 45 is in the solid line position shown in FIG. 1;. Thus packing means 45 essentially comprises a pivotally movable roof wall for the portion of body 23 lying rearwardly of partial roof 28, and blade 46 is radially shiftable relative to the pivotal axis of the roof wall. The packing blade 46 which extends transversely across the vehicle 20 includes a lowermost horizontal edge 53 which sweeps along the floor of hopper 32 in the forward packing stroke of packing wall 45.

Operation of the packing wall 45 is best described by referring to various positions of the lowermost edge 53 of the packing blade 46. These positions have been designated A, B, C, D, and E in FIGS. 1 and 2. Of course, various other motions of the packing blade 46 are possible when other embodiments of packing means are utilized in connection with a vehicle 20, according to the present invention. Referring to FIG. 2, when the lowermost edge 53 of the packing blade 46 is located at position A, which is the packing and transport position, both the first pair of cylinders 49 and the second pair of cylinders 50 are in retracted positions (not shown). When the packing blade 46 is in this position, previously collected refuse cannot fall back into hopper 32 and new refuse may be loaded into the loading hopper 32 behind the packing blade 46. During a packing cycle, the lowermost edge 53 of the packing blade 46 is moved to position B by extending the second pair of cylinders 50 while maintaining the first pair of cylinders 49 in their retracted positions as indicated by 508 and 498 respectively. The lowermost edge 53 is then moved to position C by extending the first set of cylinders 49 while at the same time keeping the second set of cylinders 50 in its partially extended position. This moves the lowermost edge 53 along a rearward generally horizontal path. The lowermost edge 53 is moved from the position 53C to the lowermost packing position 53D by retracting the second pair of cylinders 50 thus swinging the channels 47 and the packing blade 46 downwardly and causing edge 53 to sweep along the downwardly inclined rear hopper floor 33. The last stage of movement between the point 53D and 53A is effected by retracting the upper first pair of cylinders 49. This produces a hoe like movement, moving edge 53 upwardly along the forward hopper floor 34 and packing the refuse into the body 23.

- It will be noted that in its packing position A (FIGS. 2' and 9), packing wall 45 approaches, but does not reach a vertical position. This inherently contours the top portions of the rearwardly facing wall W of the collected refuse R into a forwardly inclined position, as illustrated in FIGS. 8 and 9, hence minimizes the tendency for the refuse to fall rearwardly when packing wall 45 is shifted rearwardly to start the next packing stroke.

Referring again to FIGS. 8 and 9, much more refuse can be loaded into body 23 by coordinating the position of ejector panel 41 with the loading and packing cycle. Thus when body 23 is fairly empty (FIG. 8) ejector panel 41 should be positioned just slightly forward of hopper 32 so that the initial collections of refuse are subjected to the compacting action of packing wall 45 as illustrated in FIG. 9. As loading proceeds, the ejector panel 41 is incrementally moved forwardly either automatically or by the operator, hence all collected refuse R is subjected to compacting by wall 45.

When the packing blade 46 is in the packing cycle, designated A-D in FIG. 2, it is said to be in its lower packing position. Referring to FIG. 1 and more particularly FIG. 3, during the discharge of refuse from the vehicle 20 the packing blade 46 is moved to an upper discharge position shown in FIG. 3 at E. This is done by extending the first and second pairs of cylinders 49 and In the present embodiment, during the discharge of refuse from the elongated body 23, the packing blade 46 is moved to the upper discharge position E and the ejector panel 41 is moved rearwardly by extending the hydraulic cylinder set 42. Referring to FIG. 3, after the ejector panel 41 has been moved to its rearward position, it is still necessary to clear the loading hopper 42 of refuse. In one embodiment, this is accomplished by reversing the packer blade cycle as shown in FIG. 4.

An important feature of the present invention is that when ejector panel 41 moves rearwardly to discharge refuse from the open end 29 of the elongated body 23, the ejector panel 41 moves between the elevated packing blade 46 at position E and the loading hopper 32. By virtue of the fact that there is no roof to restrict the upward movement of packing wall 45, the vertical clearance S,(FIG. 3) between the edge 53 and the loading step 35 is actually greater than the interior height of body 23. Hence there is no vertical constriction for the discharged refuse to pass through. If desired, loading step 35 may be pivotally attached to floor 27 and dropped out of the way, as indicatedby the dotted lines in FIG. 4, by releasing a manual latch (not shown).

Control means for discharging refuse from the body 23 are generally indicated by the reference number 55. The control means 55 includes circuitry for reversing the travel of the packer blade 46 to clear the hopper 32 as shown in FIG. 4. 4

FIG. 5 illustrates another embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, rather than reversing the travel of the packing blade 46 to clear the hopper 32, an articulated auxiliary hopper floor 56 is pivotally connected to the main vehicle floor 27. Floor 56 comprises a plurality of horizontally pivotally connected plates 56A, 56B and 56C. The auxiliary hopper floor 56 is positioned with the hopper 32, conforming generally thereto, and is movable between a lower position (indicated by the solid lines in FIG. 5) and an upper discharge position (indicated by the dashed line position 56a). A pair of hopper cylinders 57 are provided to move the auxiliary floor 56 between its lower refuse receiving position and its upper refuse discharge position. When discharging refuse from the elongated body 23 of the vehicle 20, the cylinders 57 are extended, moving the auxiliary floor 56 to its upper discharge position 56a. As the ejector panel 41 moves rearwardly adjacent the upper surface of the auxiliary floor 56, it sweeps all of the refuse, including the hopper refuse, outwardly through the open rear end 29 of the vehicle 20. Subsequently, the cylinders 57 are retracted and the auxiliary hopper floor 56 assumes its lower position.

Another embodiment of the present invention is shown in FIGS. and 1 1. In the event that a total fixed roof is desired for body 23 for better rain protection and/or odor containment, the embodiment of FIGS. 10

and 11 may be utilized. A fixed roof 90 is provided over the rear end of body 23, hence the maximum height of packing blade edge 53 is at position F in FIG. 11.

To provide additional vertical clearance for discharge, the hopper 32 is fabricated in two pieces, namely a fixed forward portion 32a integrally attached to body floor 27 and a rear movable portion 32b which is pivotally attached to body 23 by pivots 32c. Movable hopper portion 32a defines the upwardly and rearwardly inclined wall floor 33a of the hopper and a portion 34b of the forwardly and upwardly inclined wall floor 34a.

Movable hopper portion 32a is retained in its upper, closed position (FIG. 10) by a pair of manually operable latches 32d. In this position, the packing blade edge 53 cooperates with hopper fioors 33a and 34a in the same manner as previously described during all loading cycles.

When it is desired to discharge the accumulated refuse, packer wall 45 is moved to its highest position under roof 90 (FIG. 11) and latches 32d are released to permit movable hopper portion 32b to swing downwardly by gravity to the position shown in FIG. 11. It is then readily apparent that the vertical clearance S for discharge of the refuse is again greater than the interior height of the forward portion of body 23. Hence there will be no impairment of rearward movement of refuse by ejector panel 41. We claim:

1. In a refuse collecting vehicle having an elongated body with a body floor, opposed side walls, an open tion of the floor;

a. a packer wall horizontally pivotally mounted between said side walls on a pivotal axis forward of said depression, said packer wall comprising:

1. a solid wall portion traversing the space between said side walls, and

2. a scraper blade portion slidably mounted on the rear end of said wall portion and radially movable relative to said packer wall pivotal axis;

b. a first power means for pivoting said packer wall between:

1. a packing position wherein said wall portion is completely disposed within said body and approaching a vertical position, and

2. an unloading position wherein said wall portion and scraper blade portion are moved upwardly out of the path of refuse being unloaded out of said body;

c. a second power means for radially shifting said scraper blade portion to cause the free edge of said scraper blade portion to sweep forwardly along the floor of said hopper depression as said packer wall moves to said packing position and d. a separate floor member defining the rearward inclined wall of said hopper depression, and means mounting said separate floor member for pivotal movement relative to said body, whereby said separate floor member may be pivoted downward to a non-obstructing position relative to rearward discharge of accumulated refuse.

2. In a rear loading refuse vehicle having a generally fiat body floor, spaced side walls and an open rear end, the improvement comprising,

a. a depressed hopper at the rear of said body floor for receiving refuse, said hopper having a bottom consisting of an upwardly inclined front portion and an upwardly inclined rear portion,

b. means mounting said rear portion of said hopper bottom for movement between an upper position in which it defines the back of said hopper and a nonobstructing position opening said hopper rearwardly for discharge of refuse therefrom and from said body, and

c. a packer blade having a lower edge and that is mounted in said body for moving refuse out of said hopper forwardly into said body, said lower edge being movable along a lower path including movement of said lower edge forwardly down into and through said hopper and an upper path extending rearwardly over refuse in said hopper at such a level thereabove that the open space between said lower edge and the rear edge of said rear portion of said hopper when in non-obstructing position is generally equal to the open end of said body.

3. A refuse vehicle according to claim 2 and an ejec tor plate mounted in said body for movement from the front of said body toward and to the rear of said body and said hopper for discharging accumulated refuse from said body when said rear portion of said hopper bottom is in non-obstructing position. 

1. In a refuse collecting vehicle having an elongated body with a body floor, opposed side walls, an open rear end and a hopper like depression in the rear portion of the floor; a. a packer wall horizontally pivotally mounted between said side walls on a pivotal axis forward of said depression, said packer wall comprising:
 1. a solid wall portion traversing the space between said side walls, and
 2. a scraper blade portion slidably mounted on the rear end of said wall portion and radially movable relative to said packer wall pivotal axis; b. a first power means for pivoting said packer wall between:
 1. a packing position wherein said wall portion is completely disposed within said body and approaching a vertical position, and
 2. an unloading position wherein said wall portion and scraper blade portion are moved upwardly out of the path of refuse being unloaded out of said body; c. a second power means for radially shifting said scraper blade portion to cause the free edge of said scraper blade portion to sweep forwardly along the floor of said hopper depression as said packer wall moves to said packing position and d. a separate floor member defining the rearward inclined wall of said hopper depression, and means mounting said separate floor member for pivotal movement relative to said body, whereby said separate floor member may be pivoted downward to a non-obstructing position relative to rearward discharge of accumulated refuse.
 2. In a rear loading refuse vehicle having a generally flat body floor, spaced side walls and an open rear end, the improvement comprising, a. a depressed hopper at the rear of said body floor for receiving refuse, said hopper having a bottom consisting of an upwardly inclined front portion and an upwardly inclined rear portion, b. means mounting said rear portion of said hopper bottom for movement between an upper position in which it defines the back of said hopper and a non-obstructing position opening said hopper rearwardly for discharge of refuse therefrom and from said body, and c. a packer blade having a lower edge and that is mounteD in said body for moving refuse out of said hopper forwardly into said body, said lower edge being movable along a lower path including movement of said lower edge forwardly down into and through said hopper and an upper path extending rearwardly over refuse in said hopper at such a level thereabove that the open space between said lower edge and the rear edge of said rear portion of said hopper when in non-obstructing position is generally equal to the open end of said body.
 2. an unloading position wherein said wall portion and scraper blade portion are moved upwardly out of the path of refuse being unloaded out of said body; c. a second power means for radially shifting said scraper blade portion to cause the free edge of said scraper blade portion to sweep forwardly along the floor of said hopper depression as said packer wall moves to said packing position and d. a separate floor member defining the rearward inclined wall of said hopper depression, and means mounting said separate floor member for pivotal movement relative to said body, whereby said separate floor member may be pivoted downward to a non-obstructing position relative to rearward discharge of accumulated refuse.
 2. a scraper blade portion slidably mounted on the rear end of said wall portion and radially movable relative to said packer wall pivotal axis; b. a first power means for pivoting said packer wall between:
 3. A refuse vehicle according to claim 2 and an ejector plate mounted in said body for movement from the front of said body toward and to the rear of said body and said hopper for discharging accumulated refuse from said body when said rear portion of said hopper bottom is in non-obstructing position. 